Records reveal growing tensions between Pavone, bishop

Rev. Frank Pavone

In a 1,883-word plea for donations, the Rev. Frank Pavone warns of “heralds of the culture of death who seek to ... use my current situation to mislead people into thinking that they are wasting their precious pro-life dollars by entrusting them to Priests for Life.”

The anti- abortion charity based in Staten Island, N.Y., over the last decade has channeled more than $1.4 million to its nonprofit affiliates, spent $2.4 million on a ministry that soon went defunct and shelled out more than $250,000 in loans to an employee and a check to an entity in Europe.

Over the same period, Priests for Life has raked in tens of millions of dollars in donations while questions over finances recently have mounted, leading to a clash between Pavone and Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek that began as early as January, almost eight months before the priest arrived in town at the bishop’s command.

Those are among the details that emerged in an analysis of records related to Pavone, his charities and Zurek’s recent decision to restrict Pavone’s ministry over concerns about the finances of the anti- abortion groups he leads.

Zurek’s scathing Sept. 9 letter to U.S. bishops announcing his decision to order Pavone to Amarillo captured headlines, but a Jan. 24 missive to the same group adds light and murk, revealing deeper roots to the conflict and raising new questions about Priests for Life’s connection to the church.

The bishop declared Priests for Life was not and never had been officially associated with the church, contrary to the charity’s assertions both before the letter and after it.

That provides another wrinkle in the thickening tension between the priest and his bishop.

The two were to talk privately Thursday, but the meeting never took place, Zurek said.

“The details and history of the present situation are such that moving forward to a resolution is no longer simply a matter of getting together and talking,” said Pavone’s canon lawyer, the Rev. David Deibel.

A former consultant to the Servants of the Paraclete, a Catholic ministry to troubled priests, Deibel said the bishop had ignored Pavone’s requests for mediation. The bishop could not be reached for a response.

But the larger issue is about money. Priests for Life spokesman Jerry Horn repeatedly has denied requests for more details and explanations.

The records raise questions, in other words, that Pavone and his men have yet to answer.

Priests for Life has raked in $5 million to almost $11 million a year since 2002, according to its tax returns.

It finished 2010 with a $1.4-million revenue shortfall, according to an audit the nonprofit provided to Zurek and posted on its website.

The organization reported in that document an outstanding $878,000 loan to Gospel of Life Ministries, accumulated since 2007.

“Charities really aren’t in the business of providing loans to other charities, their staff, their board,” said Sandra Minuitti, spokeswoman for Charity Navigator, a nonprofit watchdog group based in New Jersey.

“I would think if you had something like that (outstanding), you would want to get it paid quickly.”

Gospel of Life’s fundraising could be hamstrung. The IRS automatically revoked the group’s tax-exempt status last year after it failed to provide required financial reports to the agency.

The organization faces potential federal, state and local tax liabilities and can no longer legally represent donations as tax-deductible.

Gospel of Life is an interfaith lay association that provides support for Priests for Life, the latter’s website said. Gospel of Life is independent from the Catholic church.

The loan was seed money for Gospel of Life television programming used by Priests for Life, the group’s audit states. Priests for Life also shelled out $280,903 in loans and to cover expenses for Rachel’s Vineyard, another affiliate, in 2004 and 2005.

That group’s revenue shortfall of more than $280,000 in 2005 was enough for auditors to express “substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

Rachel’s Vineyard still owed the money to Priests for Life in 2006, but the organization’s 2007 return noted no obligation. In 2008, Priests for Life made a $334,683 grant to Rachel’s Vineyard.

Other transactions listed in Priest for Life records include pre-paid expenses of $2.4 million in 2007 and 2008 for advance work for the now-defunct Missionaries of the Gospel of Life apostolic society, a $130-million seminary plan announced for Amarillo but canceled.

Pavone planned to train priests to follow in his footsteps to fight abortion and euthanasia. The society ultimately was rejected by the now- retired Amarillo Bishop John W. Yanta and Rome.

In addition, Priests for Life carried a $170,000 loan to an unnamed employee on its books in 2007, 2008 and 2010 audits and tax returns. The IRS form calls for the recipient’s name to be logged.

The charity also left blank the name of the foreign entity it paid $85,000 in 2008. The tax return form calls for the nonprofit to list the area or region of the recipient. Priests for life listed a continent — Europe.

“That’s not really kosher,” Minuitti said. “That’s not filling out the document appropriately. Part of that is the government’s interest in seeing where money is flowing overseas. I don’t think it’s OK to not fill that section out.”

Notes accompanying Priests for Life’s 2010 audit attribute its shortfall that year to reduced charitable contributions in a down economy. The audit shows the organization had to obtain a $128,000 short-term loan “for working capital.” The loan and its interest must be paid by Dec. 31.

That forms the background to Pavone’s online plea.

“It is vital that you maintain your unconditional support for Priests for Life and the fight to end legalized abortion-on- demand in America,” he writes. “Send Priests for Life the largest gift you can possibly make today.

“Not an hour from now. Not later this evening. Not tomorrow. But right now!”